


The 6th Vinsmoke

by thefalloutalleyouthzone



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Gore, Headcanon, Heavy Angst, M/M, Post-Wano Arc (One Piece)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-10-12 14:30:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20565905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefalloutalleyouthzone/pseuds/thefalloutalleyouthzone
Summary: Sanji told them he had 4 siblings. He never mentioned a 5th.Zoro understands why he did that now.





	The 6th Vinsmoke

**Author's Note:**

  * For [misterprince](https://archiveofourown.org/users/misterprince/gifts).

> Black Haired Sanji is a great headcanon created by the Japanese Twitter side of the fandom. There are some amazing artworks if you haven't seen them.

For the first time in his life, Roronoa Zoro is truly scared.

Zoro always knew his luck would run out eventually. He's had a fair share of it, more than what others get. He hasn't lost a single fight since leaving East Blue and is extremely proud of this reputation. He can fight anyone or anything with the certain knowledge that he will always end up on top. There is only one person that stands a chance of defeating him and he already has in the past. Mihawk isn't going to get that privilege again.

There is only meant to be one other person.

But there he is, knees sunken into the rocky ground, facing another.

Zoro is rigid. Sweat dripping down his entire body, heart palpitating rapidly- he isn't allowing himself to move an inch. He doesn't want to test his luck when there is so much on the line. The thin, slowly-breaking line. He can't do that now. He has to think. But thinking in these situations is one of the most difficult things you can do.

There is a murmur from the body in front of him. He watches as the cook shifts his body in order to get up but their assailant wedges his foot deep into the cut on his back. Sanji cries out in pain, collapsing once more. Zoro grunts, trying to cover his weakness from their assailant, but the smile plastered on the man's face tells him he already knows. 

Zoro has to try to get Sanji to stop moving. He is better off lying there, pretending to be dead.

The assailant speaks to them both then, in a voice, Zoro knows all too well.

"Where has your bravery gone,  _ marimo?" _

Zoro grits his teeth, hand automatically clenching around his swords. No one apart from his cook is allowed to call him that. No one. Especially this shitty low life. He is his own living and breathing nightmare and Zoro can't wait to rip the head from his body and cut him up bit by bit. Sanji would refuse it, saying it isn't worth it but he would be fucking wrong.

The shit deserves it after all of this

Sanji told them he had 4 siblings. He never mentioned a 5th.

Zoro understands why he did that now.

His twin brother manifests everything Sanji hates in the world. He is the complete opposite of the cook Zoro has grown to love: he has black hair styled similar to his brothers, his eyebrows curl in the opposite direction, his powerful aura screams vile and he stormed into Wano killing every citizen he set eyes on. Zoro wants to forget he exists too. 

He will want to forget this encounter but that won't happen if it all goes horribly wrong. 

Zoro glances towards Sanji lying beneath his twin brother among the fire and rubble. His heart feels like it's being ripped to shreds as he sees that image. Flashbacks of Kuina lying at the bottom of the stairs come flying into his vision.

_ No. _

Sanji is one of the strongest men he knows.

He cannot get sidetracked by this notion.

Zoro positions Wado in his mouth and uses the power in his legs to jump up from the ground. He spins fast towards the imposter, slicing through the wind, turning himself into a hurricane. He is fast, but not fast enough, as his enemy blocks his attacks with  _ his  _ sword. Another thing that is completely and utterly wrong. Sanji's twin uses his  _ hands  _ to fight. 

Every strike he makes, it gets blocked in some way or another. The sound of metal clashing together fills the room and sparks fly off the katanas every time they meet. They seem to be evenly matched. Zoro always enjoys fighting a strong opponent but this fight is the one he really needs to finish. He manages to get the twin away from the cook's body, hoping the blonde would have enough strength to get up and run away. He shouldn't be here. He needs to leave before anything else happens. Before any more harm comes to him. Before he dies here.

He can't  _ die _ here.

The thought infects his mind like the plague. It makes his blood turn cold and his knees feel ever so slightly weaker: but it transforms into the reason why Zoro must carry on fighting. Like his  _ own  _ life depends on it. He must protect his nakama from danger. It's what all his other crew members would do. It's what he is going to succeed today.

Zoro shoots the 6th Vinsmoke sibling a smirk. Unexpectedly, he gets one in return and feels the ground crumble around him. He slips and falls down, down into a hole, the pit of his stomach twisting horribly. He is unable to cling onto anything due to his hands holding his swords and the twin grows smaller and smaller in his eyesight. He spins, his reflexes kicking in at the last minute, wedging his swords into the earth and stopping his fall. He looks down, the hole is endless. How can the twin possibly make this? He looks up and sees the twin is no longer there.

_ Shit. _

He needs to get back to Sanji. He won't be able to live if he is the one who can't save him out of all people.

He leans his body over to the side and angles himself against the earth. He closes his eyes and precisely cuts through the air, spinning himself up once more. He carries debris with him and when he finally reaches ground level, he kicks it in the direction of the twin, stopping him from reaching the cook. The twin makes eye contact with him and keeps himself regarded. But Zoro knows if he could express or feel any emotion, it would be mostly shock and fear plastered onto his face right now.

"Well, well, well, the marimo is tough to weed out."

Zoro growls at being called marimo by that scumbag. He launches an attack aiming for his neck but it gets blocked. The twin smiles sickly and drives enough force in the block to make Zoro tumble back. Zoro catches himself and throws himself deeply into his next attacks, making sure the twin doesn't have enough recovery time for any of them. The twin becomes frustrated, unable to keep up with the quickening pace. Adrenalin sores through Zoro as the twin stumbles back and lands on his back, and it's all Zoro needs to slice his head clean off.

He swings his katanas in one fast, fluid motion, making sure it's a clean-cut right through to the bone. He cannot take any chances.

Just as Zoro is about to pierce the skin, the body below changes. The hair changes from black to blonde and the cape turns into a black suit.

_ NO. _

Zoro cries out in horror. He immediately shifts his body, praying he is able to drive his three, incredibly sharp blades away from the cook. He stumbles back from this action, dropping his katanas, unable to gain his balance due to the shock of nearly beheading the love of his life. He gasps for air, body shaking at what he almost did. 

Laughter bounces off the debris around him. Zoro looks back at the body he almost hit, and all the blood drains from his body.

Black hair. With a cape. And a shit-eating grin.

It was an illusion.

Zoro spins around and his eyes fall upon Sanji's body still lying in the debris. He turns to see where the hole suddenly appeared and sees there is no such thing. 

The twin has the power to create illusions.

Zoro doesn't know how to fight this. Both illusions felt like they were actually happening. He can't tell the difference.

How will he be able to keep Sanji safe from this?

Zoro hears a groan. He sees Sanji shifting his body in order to get up. He wants to scream at the cook, stop him from moving so he doesn't injure himself anymore, but no words come out of his mouth. He's paralyzed. The image of Zoro's katanas breaths away from cutting into his lover's skin flashes in front of his eyes. He shakes his head, trying to get the image away but it's no use. It comes back to flood his brain and haunt him even more.

Sanji manages to get up and runs straight towards his twin, kicking and screaming in a heat of anger and fire. Zoro watches, transfixed on his equal laying down shots and angles he could never muster. He lands blow after blow, making it impossible to remember he was barely conscious moments before. Zoro grabs his katanas and joins the fight, trusting his team work with the cook. They become in sync, just like every other fight they team up in. Zoro trusts in his instincts and enables his haki, hoping it is enough to stop the twin getting into his head again. The smell of smoke fuses from the cook's body, letting Zoro know he is putting everything into the fight too. It feels incredible- to have Sanji by his side after so long. He trusted the man's instincts to leave the crew at Zou, but he never wanted to lose him again. He could never replace this sensational feeling of having his equal by his side, taking on the world together. The voyage to find one piece wouldn't have been the same without him. He cracks a smile in Sanji's direction as they crowd the twin and sees his lover's eyes shine back. He feels what Zoro is feeling too.

The twin starts to struggle. The sudden addition of the cook is making it harder for him to strike as fast as two men combined, he can no longer keep up. Adrenalin powers Zoro's body once more and he can see an opening to end this fight. He doesn't hesitate. He plunges all three katanas into the twin's chest and they hum in his hand, quenching their thirst for blood. It seeps out of the twin's body and the colour fades from his face. There is panic in his eyes: panic that Zoro has seen various times when looking down on the defeated. He feels closure from the fight as the twin collapses to the ground in a heap. 

Zoro's breaths are ragged. He crouches down, inspecting the body to see if the man really is dead. Sanji kicks at his twin to test it out too. He carries on kicking him, hard, butchering the lifeless body with his feet, anger fired within them. The twin's body jerks with each kick.

Zoro gets up and wraps his arms around Sanji, hoping he understands what it's for. He feels the cook tremble in his arms, ragged breath matching his own.

"He made me think I was gonna kill you." The words tumble out, but Zoro chokes at the end. 

Sanji turns in his arms and places his forehead against Zoro's. "I'm here, Zoro." Sanji breathes, and Zoro catches the cook's lips with his own. 

Euphoria fills Zoro as his lover continues to kiss him. Their mouths fit perfectly just as they do after winning every other fight. Zoro is glad they can always celebrate their wins together. He is glad he got his cook back from Big Mom in order to do so. They are finally safe now. Sanji can leave his past behind.

"Come on, love-cook, let's go see if the rest of the crew are alright."

"I'm sure Nami-san and Robin-chan are waiting for me," Sanji comments, but it feels like he is teasing Zoro more than anything when he laughs at Zoro rolling his eyes.

Zoro turns around and starts walking ahead, feeling relieved they both made it out alive. When he doesn't hear the cook's footsteps behind him, he turns around. As soon as he does, his heart falls out of his chest.

The twin is standing on a pile of rubble, body barely scratched, with a twisted smile spread across his face. He is holding the cook by his hair with his left hand, an arms length away from his body, and in his right hand, he is holding his sword, positioned against the cook's neck.

_ No.  _

_ No no no no no no no. _

How did he do that? Zoro stabbed him with his three swords. Sanji kicked him relentlessly. How was that an illusion?

"Sanji!"

Panic crawls into Zoro's body, taking over his reactions. He is moving too slowly, unable to get there in time, unable to pull out his katanas fast enough. The twin laughs and swings back his sword.

Zoro makes eye contact with Sanji. He has failed him. He can't make it in time. He is going to watch this nightmare unfold and it is going to be engraved into his memory forever. Just like Kuina. Sanji knows it too. They have both lost. They can't do a damn thing to stop this from happening.

"Zoro!" Sanji screams as he holds his lover's gaze, "I love y-" 

Zoro's heart shatters into a million pieces as the twin's sword cuts through Sanji's flesh, slicing his head off in one massive sweep. Zoro screams. He screams out in agony. He trips over himself and falls to his knees, pain spreading from his heart to all over his body. He hears Sanji's body collapse on the ground and his stomach wretches at the smell of Sanji's blood filling the air. His body convulses, he has lost all control over it now. It continues to heave at the sight of Sanji's body lying limp on the ground. The neck completely and utterly exposed. Those two years of training with Mihawk made completely worthless after not being able to save the one he loves the most. 

He manages to look up at Sanji's twin and sees him standing proudly with Sanji's head in his left hand, his sword covered in Sanji's blood in his right.

Tears fall from Zoro's face as he continues to scream. He finally picks up his katanas and lashes out at the twin, but he manages to disappear into thin air. Another illusion. Zoro immediately drops his katanas to catch Sanji's head, tears overflowing from his eyes. He can't stop hurting, and he is never going to get used to the feeling. He falls back down onto the floor, the feeling of Sanji's head in his lap reassures him that this is all real. They were going to lose from the very beginning.

_ Sanji Sanji Sanji Sanji Sanji Sanji Sanji. _

_ I am sorry. _

  
  


Zoro cradles Sanji's head, not wanting to look at what the twin had done. Not wanting to see what he failed to protect. He's let everybody down.

_ Luffy. _

How will he tell his captain he couldn't protect their cook? How will they eat again, knowing the food should be Sanji's own?

Zoro feels his body convulsing once more, his stomach trying to throw up the rest of the food it had consumed earlier. But he can't. It's now the last meal he has eaten by Sanji. He can't let it go to waste. Sanji would give him hell for it.

Tears are still streaming down his face. He drags himself over to Sanji's body and places the head where the neck is. He looks down, his heart shattering over and over. He chokes. How did this even happen? Sanji is meant to find All Blue with them. How did Zoro get so careless?

Zoro closes Sanji's eyes shut, not wanting anyone else to see his gaze. The gaze that didn't leave Zoro in the last seconds of Sanji's life. The gaze he will never forget.

Zoro collapses on top of Sanji's body, clinging onto the heat it still emits. He closes his eyes, hoping the cook is going to wake him up from this horrible nightmare.

He doesn't.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday bestie :)
> 
> the wonderful art was commissioned from @pneumonica1 on twitter.


End file.
